Dear Diary - Chapter 1 - Feliciano
by TakeTheMoon
Summary: Seventy years after the Second World war, two diaries were found; one of an Italian man, and one of a Brit. Upon closer inspection it is found that each one tells the same tale, a tragic tale of war and loss.
1. Chapter 1

((Short A/N: The descriptions from Feli's P.O.V may seem childish and somewhat badly written, but I wanted to stay as in-character as I possibly could. Arthur's will be better written due to his character. Enjoy!))

My name is Feliciano Vargas, I'm twenty-two years old and am currently writing in this diary that Ludwig gave me! He said to record everything that happened, just in case. So here I am, writing. To be perfectly honest with you, I don't want to be here fighting with the other guys, but I have a family back in Italy to protect. I guess if I'm writing everything down then I should write about them, too! My wife is a very beautiful lady. Her name is Rosabella. I like the last part of her name, 'bella' it means beautiful girl. We have a son called Luciano. Rosa wanted him to be named after his papa, but I thought that would be a little weird, so we settled for Luciano. I think I knew someone named Luciano once. He wasn't very nice to me…

Ludwig says I should also write down my day to day life. Well here's a day in the wartime life of Feliciano Vargas!

1\. Wake up. (This is hard!)

2\. Pet a cat and get told off by Ludwig.

3\. Run three laps. (This is also hard!)

4\. Eat breakfast!  
5\. Hide or train. (This is boring!)

Sometimes after that we have to fight people, this isn't fun. It's scary! Sometimes at night the gunshots make me cry, so Ludwig lets me crawl into his cot until I fall asleep. Sometimes he won't let me fight at all. I always wonder why, but I'm not complaining!

6\. Food! (My favourite!)  
7\. Then me, Luddy and Kiku (Our friend) sit around the camp fire until I fall asleep!

Then I wake up and do it all again!

I can hear the gunshots again now...they're so loud. I wonder who's fighting this time. I hope it's not Ludwig. Whenever he comes back with a new scar on his back or chest it really frightens me. The smell of the gunpowder also scares me, but in another way it comforts me. It's become familiar to me now. I said that in my letter home last month. Rosa said that it made her cry. Poor bella..I hope they're all okay without their papa in the house. I always tell her to not worry and that I'll be home soon! But even still the letters come back with tear-stains on the paper. And then I start crying and it gets more stained, which is bad because the letters are so precious to me! Luddy gave me a ribbon to tie them all up with. He gave me three, actually. One was red, one was white and one was green! Which I think is crazy because they're my favourite colours! I tied them in a special order that only I know, so if anyone tried to read them, I'll know because they'll be in a different order! My order is:

Green

White

Red

I wrote it down to keep it safe!

I think it's raining now, I can hear it on the roof of the tent. I have my little candle burning bright to keep me warm and company until Ludwig comes back. I wish I knew if he was safe or not. I don't like being worried, sometimes I cry and then Luddy shouts at me…

I don't know what to write about. I could talk about my home in Italy! That might make me cry too, though. I like it there, where everything is warm and happy and full of love instead of gunpowder! And I have my Rosa and Luci. I want them back. I miss the smell of the sweet evening lavender and all the pretty ladies and afternoon sunshine. I wish I was there instead of her. It's damp here, but I have Mr. Candle, still! The ground is so hard and there used to be bugs but then Germany sprayed something on the ground and they all went away. I think they all become really, really tiny and that they're still here but no one can see them. That or they moved away with their families to bug land.

Or they died.

I think I'll treasure every page of this diary. It tells a story, after all! Luci loves his papa's stories, they say they're funny! He says his mama's are sweet and help him sleep. I remember his sleeping face, he looked so sweet! I want to describe them. Rosabella is the prettiest lady on this Earth, she has tanned skin and pretty green eyes that make me think of olives and grapes that the emperors used to eat when they were bored. She has hair the colour of chocolate and is one of the best people I know. She wears a little green ring to match her eyes on the finger next to her pinky on her left hand. That is called a wedding ring. I married her eight years ago, and then we had little Luci. Luciano has his mothers hair, but his fathers eyes, with the same olive-y skin as my brother, Romano. He has long dark eyelashes and likes to play football on the streets on a Saturday with his papa. He likes to give his mama hugs, but not in front of his friends! I remember teaching him how to play football. He says he wants to play for Italy when he's older. I'm proud of him for that. We lived on a street with lots of colourful houses, painted pink and yellow and blue! Ours is a blue one, they're all attached together like they're the same building, but they're lots of different houses. We live at number 18, in the middle of the row. Just outside our front door is a cobbled path and a gate that Luci likes to ride his bike down on the way to school with his friends. Sometimes Rosa will walk down there and plant beautiful roses all along the sides of the pathway in the little boxes of soil we bought.

I think Mr. Candle is going to run out soon..he's gotten really short and the room looks darker than it did earlier. Besides, I think I hear Luddy coming! I hope he isn't too mad at me for wasting some of our candle...he says supplies are precious nowadays…


	2. Chapter 2

Have things honestly come to this?

I can't even open my eyes of a morning anymore. The guilt racks me, though I've been trained to push it down, hide it. I can't take it. Too much has happened in a period of time that was too short. I've nothing, no one to write letters too, no one to be talk to and crack open a pint of ale with. Writing down my feelings helps, it feels as if I'm talking to an old friend. I suppose I'll say what happened then, all of it. Every last horrible bit. I'll tell it like a story, in third person. Perhaps then it won't hurt as much.

As the rain poured down on the hard ground beneath each soldier staring at his boot until commanded to look up and yell something by a human that had no significance in this world and would die in some two days, the clouds turned darker and a slight rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

The stretch of no-man's land between the two sides had exceeded two miles. The Axis were trying a new tactic, gradually moving themselves further and further away from the opposition, digging a deeper trench each and every time until they were ready to attack. To charge with full force, unexpected and wild. Not knowing what to do, the Allies waited, planning and bighting their nails. Hoping for it to be over soon. Meetings were held, and a plan was put in place. A firm operation that would take seven days and little to no skill. It was mostly fool-proof. Luckily for the five man army and their bosses they were not fools, just old tired men who didn't want to fight anymore.

It was the night before the operation, last minute preparations were being made and people were being reminded of the plan. Their plan was definite. They were going to kill the Axis.

More troops were gathered and the attackers were doubled, leaving five scavengers and two medical assistants. That made seventeen of them. God knew how many would make it out again. Each man gave one another a sombre 'goodnight' before settling into themselves and drifting into uneasy sleep. They were awoken before dawn by a kick in the ribcage. Grumbling, they dragged themselves up and mentally prepared themselves for the following week or so. This was a lot for one person to handle, let alone carry scars around to remind them of it for the rest of their life.

And with that, they loaded their guns and set off.

DAY 1 OF 7:

The first ten kilometres were easy, the troops marched, keeping themselves in somewhat high spirits with songs and stories. Arthur sang cheerfully along with them, but seemed distant. Truthfully, he didn't want to do this, but it was necessary. He didn't want to kill the countries he'd been through so much with. Each one had been assigned a certain person to kill, it was unlikely that they would actually be the one to take out the person, but it was structure and made the army seem like it knew what it was doing. The underlying system, however, was much more simple. Human kill human; country kill country. Easy. Or so it sounded.

The hard leather boots were beginning to stab at Arthur's toes, a pain he easily ignored but resented bitterly all the same. He'd experienced much worse out here. Lice, bullet wounds, you name it. His singing faded to a soft hum as he consumed himself with thoughts of other times he'd spent with the countries. He began to think of the times before the First World War, when everyone was somewhat at peace, with just the odd war with one or two countries to worry about. He remembered when people were happy. He quickly dismissed the thoughts. He needed to focus, push them from his mind. He was going to kill them and he wasn't going to let memories stop him. Not again. He'd already let people slide due to his flashbacks and mercy. Instead, he thought of other things like rain and stale biscuits that chipped your teeth when you bit into them.

The journey across the stretch of land was going smoothly, smoother than expected. The Brit looked around, taking in the smoky smell of stale gunshots and the grey colours of the rubble. He took in every sharp edge, small details that would mean a lot in years to come, whether for good or for bad. The walk wasn't easy, there was a lot to do. Arthur staggered over a large piece of metal, protruding from the ground beneath him. He was also on hole-spotting duty. He had to keep an eye out for old Axis trenches they could raid or destroy. Remembering this shook him from his daydream and he scanned the ground instead.

Hours passed, and the realisation that no one truly knew if they were going in the right direction, or if they had passed the Axis already dawned on them. After all, their sudden disappearance had been a total mystery until a trench had been raided and documents had been found, clues pieced together over the space of four months as the opposition slipped further and further out of their grasp.

Arthur lost himself in his thoughts again, he really wasn't cut out for this job. Suddenly, he lost his balance and let out a cry, he'd fallen straight into a deep trench. Small ripples of laughter erupted from the troops as they all climbed down into the hole, and patted Arthur's back. He'd done his job – even if it was accidental. He stood there, dumbfounded for a minute as he was congratulated before gathering himself and beginning to look around.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. It must have been a decoy to throw them off the trail, or maybe just some random hole. Disappointed with their discovery, the men clawed their way up back to the no-man's land and got back into formation before marching again, not pausing for anything but to check their compass. Arthur picked out a fuzzy sounding radio and desperately tried to tune it into a news channel, just in case there were any clue to the Axis whereabouts. There was a crackling as the radio fought for signal. Glimpses of sentences where heard. Apparently, the war was 'to be over by Christmas.' people were still trying to make predictions about this war, even though every other made had been proved wrong. People were still trying to grab onto small, desperate pieces of hope. Trying to remain sane. Arthur Kirkland seemed to be losing the battle.


End file.
